Todd Porter: Blow up the Browns organization from top to bottom

As the fourth-quarter clock ticked away and Phil Dawson’s 39-yard field goal avoided the uprights like the ball was a magnet and the goal posts a magnetic field, the masses left in disgust. Again.

Todd Porter

As the fourth-quarter clock ticked away and Phil Dawson’s 39-yard field goal avoided the uprights like the ball was a magnet and the goal posts a magnetic field, the masses left in disgust.

Again.

They left after Braylon Edwards dropped his third pass of the game, this one in the end zone when it could have made a difference. Edwards has dropped 16 passes this season. The only man having a worse year is George Bush.

But sprinkled throughout Cleveland Browns Stadium on a chilly Sunday afternoon were the eternal optimists. The fans who still either believed or were still sobering up. Their hopes were answered, for a few seconds.

Sean Jones intercepted a Sage Rosenfels pass and rewarded those fans with false hope. Two plays later, Cleveland’s offense gave the ball back.

What remained of the Browns fans left. By the time Romeo Crennel walked off the field after a 16-6 loss to Houston, the only people who stayed were family and friends or those who wanted to vent their frustrations about another Browns season flushed down Lake Erie.

Cleveland lost to Houston, a team that by most standards was one of the few left in the NFL worse than the Browns, and a quarterback who belongs on a spice rack.

Sunday’s loss to the Texans was the third in a row in front of the home fans. It came on the heels of a promising win at Buffalo. The Browns have now killed more buzzes in Cleveland than Betty Ford.

Where does a proud franchise turn? Even the most loyal of Browns fans believe a stick of dynamite is better than sticking up for this organization.

That’s what needs to happen. The entire structure of the Browns needs to be blown up from the top — and I mean the very top — to the bottom. Randy Lerner is the owner but doesn’t take ownership. Phil Savage, the mild-mannered general manager, lost his cool and provided the distraction of the week when he hit send and not delete on his computer. Crennel, a nice enough guy, is a dead man walking; keeping a chair warm for Bill Cowher, or at this point, anyone else.

Crennel, surprise, didn’t have any answers.

“A lot of times you don’t know exactly what you’re going to get and how hard they’re going to try and how hard they’re going to execute and if they’re going to do the right things,” Crennel said.

The Browns’ win in Buffalo on Monday night was a glimmering of hope in a season of darkness. Houston, on the road in the cold with a backup quarterback, was, one would think, a beatable team.

“You get the feeling after you go to Buffalo and win in Buffalo that (players) are going to do enough to help you win at home,” Crennel said. “We didn’t do it for whatever reason. If I knew the answer, I would definitely get it fixed.”

Here’s the problem with that: Crennel is the leader. If a coach doesn’t know what the answer is, who does? Leaders can’t say they don’t know the answer. Not publicly.

Browns fans are tired of losing. Season-ticket holders have stopped going to games and use words like “hate” to describe their feelings toward the team. But hope always springs eternal in the Dawg Pound every September.

But false hope flows like an eternal faucet on the coast of Lake Erie. This season is just about a string of gaffes and mismanagement. It’s about a team that almost never does the right thing, but always means well.

Do the Browns have an answer in-house? Is there a person in this organization capable of fixing this mess?

Lerner is an owner in absentia. Savage is a general manager in absentia, scouring the practice fields of colleges during the week. Crennel is left to answer for a mess that he’s only partially responsible for creating.

When the Browns are ready to stop being the doormat of the NFL, it won’t be Lerner who fixes it. When Crennel goes, and he will, the owner shouldn’t stop there.

Do Browns fans a favor and sell the team to someone who wants it. No one is questioning whether Lerner wants to win and have success. Who wouldn’t?

The question is: Does he know how to get there? That’s been answered ... for several years.